CASP9 and cancer: AKT is thought to be an anti-apoptotic regulator that promotes cancer progression, and active AKT proteins can activate endogenous pathways of apoptosis to restore the anti-apoptotic function of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl and also inhibit the activation of the caspase-9 protein AKT can also inhibit the activation of caspase-9 protein, which can hinder apoptosis (Li et al., 2018).